


Hoenn's Alpha Sapphire

by RiverStorms



Series: The Trainers' Collection [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions
Genre: Novelization
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:14:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23624428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RiverStorms/pseuds/RiverStorms
Summary: Haruka Ito, daughter of the newly-appointed Petalburg Gym Leader Senri Ito, has just arrived in the region of Hoenn alongside her mother. Despite missing Tanba City of Johto greatly, she's determined to forge an exciting adventure in her new home since she's finally allowed to become a Trainer as she has always wanted.
Series: The Trainers' Collection [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1700560





	Hoenn's Alpha Sapphire

Hoenn was going to be great.

She knew beyond a doubt that it _had_ to be; she had loved living in Tanba City! For her entire life, she had always had a love of water, and Hoenn was famous for the copious amounts of it. _Copious… That’s a vocabulary word that Dad would be proud of me for knowing._ She wasn’t _dumb_ , but education wasn’t a big focus for her-

A beeping sound from her lap redirected the girl’s attention, and she lifted the PokeNav to watch the screen. _[“Hi! Sorry to keep you waiting!”]_ Right, Mom wanted her to see the greeting video made by the region’s professor before they got there… _[“Welcome to the region of Hoenn! My name is Birch- I mean, Professor Birch, sorry!”]_ She watched the figure on the screen release a Marill from a PokeBall, then had her gaze snatched away when the trailer hit a hard bump in the road. Now that she thought about it, she could hear distant pokemon cries, and… Well, it’s not her fault that boring things lose her attention quickly!

She looked back down to the PokeNav, in time for the man to continue speaking. _[“What about you?”]_ The pale brown haired girl felt her eyes widen slightly, embarrassed. _Crap, is this a live video?_ _[“It looks like you’re a girl; well, regardless, it’s good that my son might be able to have someone his age around. What’s your name?”_

“... It’s Haruka.” she mumbled back at the screen. “I’m the daughter of Senri Ito,” she added hastily, with a bit more of her usual energy.

_[“Oh, I see! You’re THAT Haruka!”]_ What was that supposed to mean? Nobody knew about her yet, just her father. _[“You’re the one who’s moving to Littleroot Town, where I live!”]_ Haruka raised an eyebrow at the screen. _Didn’t you already imply that?_

She lowered the PokeNav again when the trailer slowed to a halt and the doors began to open. _Finally! I’m ready to leap into this new place!_ Haruka was quick to jump to her feet and approach the exit, sliding the PokeNav into her bag with similar haste. The girl wasted no time in jumping down from the trailer at lightning speed. _Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. Whatever!_

Thankfully, her mother was waiting for her in the small town’s most open area. “Haruka! You’re here at last! Wasn’t it tough riding in the back of the bumpy moving truck all that way?” Haruka was quick to shake her head; she was tougher than a little rough ride. “Well, this is Littleroot Town. What do you think? This is going to be our new home! It has a quaint feel, but it looks like it should be a nice place to live, don’t you think?”

_Well, it might be nicer if all of my friends in Tanba were here with me._ But she didn’t want to disappoint her mother with words like that, and she _did_ want to enjoy Hoenn as much as she could. “It’s much smaller than the city,” she conceded.

Her mother did seem a bit disappointed with the small reply, but kept up with her optimistic tone. “Well, you get your own room this time, sweetie! Come on. You have to see the inside!” She turned and hurried towards the front door, and Haruka followed quickly, heading inside.

“See, dear? Isn’t it so nice in here?” The brunette turned from where she’d been facing her daughter, gesturing to the living room and kitchen spaces in a wide arc. “The moving company’s pokemon even help with the unpacking and cleanup. They really make moving a cinch!”

Haruka felt a smile coming unbidden to her face; her mother was always positive about everything. It really was one of the biggest reasons that she herself had so much energy to spare.

“Graoh, graoh, graoh…” That was the Machoke, approaching from the kitchen where it had been setting down unpacked items. Her mother immediately turned, smiling to the pokemon. “Thanks for all of the hard work! We really appreciate it!” Machoke replied energetically. “Gwagwah gwah!” Haruka shuffled out of the way of the door, watching as her mother did so too so that the two Fighting-type pokemon could exit.

The woman turned to her daughter again a moment later. “You should go and see your new room upstairs, sweetie! Your dad even bought a new clock for it to help celebrate the big move. You’ll need to set the time, though! It’s the only doorway on the left.”

Haruka stepped past to head to the stairs, pausing at the foot of them before taking fast steps upwards to the second floor. True to her words, there was only a single room on the left side of the hallway, and she turned the doorknob quickly and went in.

The brunette paused in the doorway to take in the details. In one corner, she had a desk with various pokemon-related books and other apparel scattered on it; on the wall closest to it, she noticed the aforementioned clock and a map of Hoenn. Turning to the opposite side, her huge Lapras plushie was there on the carpet alongside a couple of pillows, and she saw that a television had been set up as well as a video game console. Whirling around again, she saw that her bed was in the final corner. Approaching it, Haruka let herself flop down on it facedown for a moment. _It has everything that it had back in Tanba- smells the same, too…_

Well, this was perfect, then. It was almost like being home.

Haruka got back up, heading over to the clock and setting the time. She’d almost forgotten. _It’s not like Mom will let me rush out of the house if I don’t do it, though!_

Speaking of her, the girl turned when she heard the doorknob turning, just before her mother entered. “How do you like your new room, Haruka?” She glanced around the room before nodding in satisfaction. “Good! Everything’s put away neatly. Those Machoke really knew what they were doing. By the way, they did finish moving everything downstairs, too. It really is so nice having pokemon around to help us! You should make sure that everything is all there on your desk, though.” The woman turned and headed back downstairs without waiting for an answer.

Letting out a slight exhale, Haruka turned and approached the desk, spotting her notebook on the edge. Paging through it, the girl felt a grin rising. It was full of ideas that she had for adventuring, when she finally got a pokemon. _I can’t wait to be a trainer!_ She leaned closer to scrutinize the page more closely. _Adventure rule number one, always travel with a pokemon! Adventure rule number two, catch as many as possible!_ _Adventure rule number three…_ She didn’t have anything for the third one. Well, she wrote this when she was nine, after seeing those young trainers from Kanto competing in the Elite Four challenge. She idly wondered how old that they had to be now… It had been five or six years since then.

“Oh! May! May!!! Quick! Come quickly!” Hearing the yelling from her mother downstairs, the thirteen year old shot out of her bedroom and down the stairs in a flash. Haruka spotted her by the television and ran over. “It’s the Petalburg Gym! Maybe your dad will be on TV!”

They watched the screen, seeing an interviewer right outside of the gym building. _[“... We brought you this report live from in front of Petalburg Gym. Next up, a special look at a long-awaited meteor shower in the next star show…”]_

Her mother stared at the screen for a moment or two before clicking it off with the remote. “Oh… It had already ended. Looks like your dad was on, but we missed his part. What a shame.”

Haruka shoved down the frown prickling at the edges of her mouth; she hated the look of resignation on her mother’s face. They were only living here in Littleroot because there were no houses for sale in Petalburg at the moment, but her father was living in the gym quarters in the very back of the building. Was he going to even visit them now?

“... But that reminds me. One of your father’s friends lives in this town. Professor Barclay Birch is his name. He lives next door, so you should go over and introduce yourself, alright?” Her mother gave her a small smile, and Haruka took the hint, heading to the front door. _I guess she knows how badly I want to explore._

The brunette girl stood outside just outside the doorway for a few moments, taking in the sights and sounds; the air was _so_ fresh here. It had to be because of the rural location and the forest scenery at the edges of the tiny town. But it took no time at all for her to spot the identical house right next door, and Haruka walked over, taking a moment to read the sign beside it. _[Professor Birch’s house.]_ She pursed her lips, bothered slightly by it. _House signs in Johto usually just say the family name._ Tossing the thought away, she approached the front door and knocked on it with her hand twice.

A dark brown haired woman was the one to answer, peering out through the half-opened gap of the door. “Oh, hello, you are…?”

“I’m Haruka Ito,” she answered without pause.

The woman’s face lit up, apparently excited by the answer. “Oh, you’re Haruka, our new next-door neighbor! Welcome! We have a son who is just about the same age as you. He’s been so excited about making a new friend- there hasn’t been anybody living in that house in a few years.” A brief shadow flickered across her eyes, and Haruka wondered if there’d been a kid among the previous residents who’d been close to him. “He should be in his room upstairs. I hope you’ll go and introduce yourself!”

As the woman stepped away to head back to the kitchen table, Haruka decided that she had dropped a heavy hint there. Well, she didn’t see any reason to do otherwise, so she headed up to the stairs, albeit at a more cautious speed than she’d used in her new house.

When she headed up into the room, she noticed the boy had his back turned to the doorway, patting the hat on his head as if to check that it fit before adjusting a bag at his side and glancing down to a book on the desk. “Pokemon fully restored… Items all packed, and…” The stranger raised his head, and then jumped slightly when he spotted her, then took a few steps over. “Y-you…” She couldn’t blame him for stammering. He didn’t have any clue who she was, after all. “Who are you?”

Before she could answer, he did a peculiar head motion, closing his eyes and tilting his chin down before tilting it upwards in the opposite direction, then looked straight at her. “Haruka, the new kid who just moved in next door?”

“... Was that supposed to be a guess?” Again, Haruka felt herself raising one eyebrow. Was he just kooky, or was it something he got from his father? … Maybe the latter, considering how her father had mentioned the professor in the past.

  
  


“Huh… I didn’t know that you’d be a girl.” There was a bit of an apprehensive look on his face as the boy did a quick once-over. “Dad- I mean, Professor Birch- told me that you were a Gym Leader’s kid, and I was sort of hoping you’d be a guy. My name’s Brendan. Well, I guess we are still neighbors, so… Nice to meet you! Let’s be friends, okay?”

“You talk really fast.” Surely, she could let go of the quiet, withdrawn attitude she’d been holding onto since she arrived, now…? There was nothing to worry about, he was super friendly. _I can just get back to my usual energy._ Realizing he looked slightly downcast, she shook her hands quickly in a jazz-like fashion. “Hey, wait, I didn’t mean that’s bad! It’s actually really good, uh, also I might seem quiet but I’m really not, I’m actually pretty loud...” Haruka slowly trailed off, noticing him eyeing her side in confusion. “... What?”

“Don’t you have any pokemon?” Noticing her facial expression blank, he continued. “If you want, I can go and catch you one.”

Haruka immediately shook her head, a grin crossing her face, displaying her fanged canine teeth. “Nope! I want to do that myself, that’s my next goal on my Hoenn checklist!”

“Well, I guess that makes sense…” Suddenly Brendan jumped, a shocked expression forming on his face. “Aw, snap, I forgot! I’m supposed to be going out to help my dad catch wild pokemon. Some other time, okay?” He rushed downstairs, and Haruka turned around to watch him go. _How do you forget about something so exciting?_

The brunette headed back downstairs quickly, only to see the front door slamming shut. _I’ll have to rush it if I wanna catch up!_ She briefly made eye contact with Brendan’s mother, and she sighed in aggravation. “Where is that husband of mine, anyhow? It was so nice of you to visit us and he’s nowhere to be found!” Haruka just shook her head before jogging outside, glancing widely around the area to no avail. Her new neighbor was nowhere to be seen. _Maybe I should check the lab? … No, if they’re going to catch wild pokemon, they’ll be beyond the town entrance._

Well, Haruka knew her mother would tell her that she wasn’t allowed to go into wild areas since she had no pokemon, but it had never stopped her before! The few scars on her arms and legs (acquired after such ventures) just proved how dedicated she was to adventuring. Running up to the town’s edge, a little boy turned around and stared up at her. “Hey, miss! I think I heard someone screaming up ahead! What should I do? What should we do? Somebody has to go help...”

She paused to ruffle the kid’s hair, grinning. “Hey, I’ll go help! No problem.” The brunette turned and raced off to the route. It took no time at all to hear the screams that he’d mentioned, and she could tell that it was a man’s voice. “H-help me!”

Running ahead, Haruka skidded to a stop by a bag on the ground, watching a small, gray canine-like pokemon chasing a white-coated man around the tall grass. The man stared at her in relief as soon as he noticed, waving his arms. “Halloo! You over there! Please, help me out! In my bag, there are some PokeBalls!”

_What? I’m not about to do that! What a waste of time!_ Without hesitation, she jumped over the bag skillfully and scooped up the pokemon in her hands, holding it away from her or the other man. It squirmed for a few seconds before giving up with a whine, only to rush off when she squatted down to place it in some tall grass away from them.

Dusting off her hands, Haruka straightened back up and turned to see the stranger staring at her in disbelief. “... You didn’t even think about it, you just moved the wild pokemon?” She tilted her head to the side, shrugging. “Well, yes, even with wild pokemon, lower-leveled ones aren’t _that_ aggressive to people unless you actually anger them somehow. ...Personal experience?” She offered the last two words when he continued to look baffled.

“Uh… Well…” Seeming to snap out of it, the man straightened up with a smile. “My name is Professor Birch, thank you for helping me out of that predicament during my field research!” He paused, looking her up and down. “... Oh, you must be Senri’s daughter, right? Well, you can pick out one of the pokemon from my bag, anyway. He told me that you’re old enough to travel a region now, and Hoenn hasn’t had any major crime instances like Team Rocket in Johto and Kanto, so it’s safer!”

_He’s long-winded like his son, then… well, Brendan is probably like him, actually._ Blinking, she squatted down again beside the bag on the ground, peering at the pokeballs. “How do I tell which is which?”

A look of brief embarrassment crossed the professor’s face. “Oh, right!” There should be a ‘G’ on one PokeBall for Grass type, an ‘F’ on another for Fire type, and a ‘W’ for the last one for Water type.”

Well, that was all she had to know to make her choice. She immediately reached for the W-marked PokeBall, clicking the button on it to see the pokemon inside.

“That’s Mudkip,” Professor Birch explained brightly. “It’s a rare pokemon that’s native to Hoenn! While you’re at it, why not give a nickname to it?” Seeing her immediate nod, he grinned. “Yup, that’s the spirit! So what’ll it be?”

Looking down at the little blue pokemon running around her feet, it didn’t take very long to pick one. “Muddy,” Haruka replied decisively.

“Well, it makes sense.” He didn’t seem to judge her choice, but that wouldn’t have mattered to her if he did or not. “You know, if you work with your pokemon and gain experience, I think you’ll make a pretty excellent Trainer! My boy, Brendan, happens to be out on Route 103 right now, surveying pokemon for me. It might not be a bad idea for you to head out that way yourself. What do you think?”

_Finally, I’ll be able to go out and adventure Hoenn like I want to!_ She didn’t even notice herself nodding, doing so unconsciously, caught up in her anticipation.

“Great! I’m sure Brendan will be happy to hear that, too. He can help teach you what it means to be a Trainer.” Did Haruka really need to be taught? Nobody had instructed Kotone Carriere, Johto’s current champion (and a big inspiration of her’s) on how to rise to greatness. “... Oh, yes! And if you’re ever lost along the way, just use the AreaNav on your PokeNav Plus! You can use it to see how to get to Route 103, where Brendan should be. If you or your pokemon get tired, get some rest at your new house.”

He didn’t say anything else, so the brunette girl took that to be the finishing statements and scooped up the Mudkip into her arms, letting it settle on her shoulder as she hurried outside of the door.

_My new, exciting Trainer life is underway!_

* * *

**Muddy (Mudkip)**

Ability: Torrent

Characteristic: Loves to eat

Level: 5

Moves: Growl, Tackle, Water Gun

Nature: Hasty

Type: Water


End file.
